International Environmental Technology Centre

E-WASTE MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP ON TAKE BACK SYSTEM

Background

It is projected that 3 billion electrical and electronic equipment will become Waste Electrical Electronic Equipment (WEEE) /electronic waste (e-waste) by 2010 (average WEEE/E-waste generation rate of 400 million units a year till 2010). Globally, about 20 to 50 million metric tons of WEEE/E-waste is disposed each year, which is 5% of all municipal solid waste (Basel Convention). Considering 3 percent WEEE/E-waste growth rate in developed countries and 8.8 percent growth rate as per market scenario, the two expected WEEE/E-waste generation scenarios shows that it will reach 40 to 70 million tons per year by 2015. Rapid increase in WEEE/E-waste is creating major risks for public health and environment. All the stakeholders, including consumers, producers and governments are trying to develop policies and management systems to handle WEEE/E-waste.

In order to support development of policy framework and capacity building on WEEE/E-waste at national and local level, a training workshop on WEEE/E-waste management was held in Osaka, Japan, on 13-15 July 2011. This workshop was attended by national governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society. The outcome of the workshop identified a need to build the capacity and policy framework on WEEE/E-waste “take back” system and financial mechanism to sustain this system. In this context, a third manual on WEEE/E-waste take-back system has been developed in continuation to the series of manual 1 and 2.

To build capacity at national and local level, and to discuss the policy framework including financial mechanism for WEEE/E-waste take-back system, UNEP organized the 2nd workshop on WEEE/E-waste management focusing on the take-back system. The objectives of this workshop are:

To provide training on developing WEEE/E-waste take-back system including policy framework and financial mechanism;

To discuss the challenges in WEEE/E-waste take-back system with various stakeholders and share expertise and experiences;

To discuss the possibility of pilot projects in different cities/countries through local and international support.